Shane Thomas Embury (born 27 November 1967) is a British musician, who is primarily known as the bassist of the

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme metal, extreme fusion genre of heavy metal music, heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, e ...

and

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

band

Napalm Death Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in Meriden, West Midlands, in 1981. None of the band's original members have been in the group since 1986, but since ''Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mi ...

since 1987—the longest-serving member of the band.

Career

Napalm Death

While not a founding member, Embury is the longest standing member of the band, having taken part in the ''Scum'' tour, replacing previous bassist Jim Whitely in July 1987. He was a fan of the band before he joined, first seeing them perform at Midlands venue The Mermaid the previous year and becoming close friends of the members of the band, particularly Mick Harris. Nicholas Bullen, the founding member of the band, originally asked Embury to join them before the recording of the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of the debut album '' Scum'' but Embury eventually declined due to nervousness, his biggest regret.

Warhammer

Before joining Napalm Death, Embury played drums in a

band called Warhammer with Mitch Dickinson. The band released one demo in 1985 called ''Abattoir of Death''. After Warhammer, Embury and Mitch did work as

Unseen Terror Unseen Terror was a British extreme metal band formed by Mitch Dickinson (Heresy (band), Heresy) and Shane Embury (later of Napalm Death), and played extreme metal with a technical edge along with elements of hardcore punk.Liner notes of Earac ...

. Embury also played drums in Azagthoth with fellow Warhammer guitarist Wayne Aston and bassist Pete Giles. Azagthoth recorded one demo at Rich Bitch Studios in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

called ''Shredded Flesh''.

Other projects

Embury has a long list of side projects. He performed in the

band Unseen Terror with Dickinson, who was also a member of

Heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...

. He formed an

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of Heavy metal music, heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating Heavy metal guitar, metal guitar riffs, sampling (music), sampling, synthesizer or music sequencer, sequencer lines, and Distor ...

band called Blood from the Soul with Lou Koller from New York's

Sick of It All Sick of It All is an American hardcore punk band formed in 1986 in Queens, New York City. The band's lineup consists of brothers Lou and Pete Koller on lead vocals and guitars respectively, Armand Majidi on drums, and Craig Setari on bass. Sic ...

, which released their debut album, ''To Spite The Gland That Breeds'', in 1993; the project reformed in 2020 to release a sophomore record, ''DSM-5''. He was in an industrial band with Mitch Harris and several

Obituary An obituary (wikt:obit#Etymology 2, obit for short) is an Article (publishing), article about a recently death, deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as Article (publishing), news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on p ...

members called Meathook Seed. Harris and Embury both played together in a band called Little Giant Drug, which also featured singer Simon Orme: inspired by "4AD indie rock", Little Giant Drug released one album, ''Prism Cast'', on Org Records in 1998. Embury was also part of an unconventional band called Malformed Earthborn with

Brutal Truth Brutal Truth was an American grindcore band from New York City, formed by ex-Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, and Stormtroopers of Death bass guitarist Dan Lilker in 1990. The group disbanded in 1999, but reformed in 2006 and continued to release mu ...

's bass player

Dan Lilker Daniel Adam Lilker (born October 18, 1964) is an American musician best known as a bass player, but also guitarist, pianist, and vocalist. He has played bass in numerous heavy metal bands, including Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, S.O.D. and Holy ...

, Lock Up with

Tomas Lindberg Tomas Lindberg (born 16 October 1972), also known as "Tompa" and "Goatspell", is a Swedish vocalist who has fronted many death metal bands, most notably At the Gates. He has been active as a musician and composer since the late 1980s. He also t ...

At the Gates At the Gates is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At ...

, and Brujeria, a Mexican/Chicano death metal supergroup band, touring with them live in several venues, including Wacken Open Air 2017. Embury also plays with Napalm Death bandmate Danny Herrera, Kevin Sharp of Brutal Truth, and

Nuclear Assault Nuclear Assault was an American thrash metal band formed in New York City in 1984. Part of the mid-to-late 1980s thrash metal movement, they were one of the main bands of the genre to emerge from the East Coast along with Overkill, Whiplash, ...

and Brutal Truth in the band Venomous Concept; and has recently toured with UK

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

/grindcore band

Anaal Nathrakh Anaal Nathrakh are a British extreme metal band formed in 1999 in Birmingham by multi-instrumentalist Mick Kenney and vocalist Dave Hunt (musician), Dave Hunt. They are currently signed to Metal Blade Records. The band's name is Irish language, ...

. Embury recently resurrected a musical project called Absolute Power with close producer friends Simon Efemey & Russ Russell which he started in 2000, featuring

Tim "Ripper" Owens Timothy S. "Ripper" Owens (born September 13, 1967) is an American heavy metal singer who currently performs with KK's Priest, Spirits of Fire, the Three Tremors and "The Tim Ripper Monster Energy Big Band". He first gained attention as the ...

on vocals & Brian Tatler of Diamond Head on guitar. Their debut album was finally released on download only though Embury's Feto Records label in 2011. More recently, Embury played on the latest Liquid Graveyard album, ''By Nature So Perverse'' with

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

frontman and guitarist John Walker, drummer Nick Barker and vocalist Raquel Walker, released in 2016.

Personal life

Born in

Broseley Broseley () is a market town in Shropshire, England, with a population of 4,929 at the 2011 Census and an estimate of 5,022 in 2019. The River Severn flows to its north and east. The first iron bridge in the world was built in 1779 across the ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, Shane Thomas Embury lives with his wife in

, West Midlands, and loves horror and science fiction books, movies and comics. He has tattoos on both of his arms, including the Napalm Death logo and the "Life?" image on his left arm.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Embury, Shane Napalm Death members British death metal musicians English heavy metal bass guitarists British male bass guitarists English heavy metal drummers 1967 births Living people Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands Musicians from Shropshire People from Broseley Lock Up (British band) members Brujeria (band) members Grindcore musicians British industrial musicians British punk rock musicians